Graduation Date

Spring 2019

Document Type

Thesis

Program

Master of Arts degree with a major in Education

Committee Chair Name

Dr. Eric Van Duzer

Committee Chair Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Second Committee Member Name

Dr. Elizabeth Miller

Second Committee Member Affiliation

HSU Faculty or Staff

Keywords

Dialogue journals, Journal writing, Peer feedback, ESL college students, English fluency

Subject Categories

Education

Abstract

This study investigated research methodologies which were proven to be successful in promoting English fluency among ESL students in the college level classroom. The history of second language learning was tied to popular teaching practices, such as journal writing, dialogue journals, peer feedback, and teacher feedback. Due to a lack of cohesion between the above methods and a rising gap in related literature, an experiment was formed to determine whether dialogue journals could be combined with peer feedback to facilitate an accelerated comprehension of English as an L2 language. Over a three-month period, 19 ESL students at Gavilan College were instructed to write about their weekly course experiences by answering one or more prompt questions in a notebook. The class was observed for both positive and negative reactions to peer encounters, consistent English language use in verbal and written form, and number of errors made in grammar and spelling. Pre and post scores were also compared to represent whether English comprehension improved after the intervention of the peer feedback method. By the end of the study, field notes from the observations and an analysis of dialogue journal entries proved that students became more confident with English language use, and overall English fluency increased. On average, 14 out of 19 participants (74%) improved their grammar, and 16 out of 19 participants (84%) improved their spelling. Therefore, it can be concluded that dialogue journals and peer feedback help achieve English fluency among college level ESL students when combined simultaneously.

Citation Style

APA

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